Day 13: What rest day?!?

83.29 mi 50.0 max 6:32.04 avg 12.7

I already feel like yesterday’s rest day was a million years ago. I took Stephanie’s breakfast duty so that she could stay at the hotel for a little while longer, and in return, she’ll do my breakfast duty tomorrow morning. There are peacocks at this campground - no pics, but I saw them with my very own eyes.

At the first rest stop, I asked Alan to take a look at the shifter for my front chainring – it had become really sticky and I was using a LOT of force to get it to change rings. Long story short, it was not a simple fix and part of the adjustment screw had rust-welded into the frame. He spent a long time with it this evening, trying to get it to work better. It does now, but I’ll probably need to take it in again to a real bike shop at some point (the whole field-bike-shop is rough, especially where Alan's working without the full complement of tools). Plus, I need a new bottom bracket. We’ll see – I’ve got some big expenses coming up soon, like the AT. I may just have to live with it until I get back. Hmm....maybe I could pick up one more job......

I arrived at the first rest stop in the first tier of riders, but I was one of the very last to leave. The day wasn’t particularly difficult – the highest climb was around 350 feet – and there were even some flat spots. I decided to ride with Stephanie though. Because I’d gotten into the rest stop first, my bike had taken most of Alan’s attention, which meant that Steph’s riding partner, Ed, had ridden on while she waited for a quick fix on her handlebars. We had a good day, I think. I demonstrated my ability to retain stupid jokes, which kept her entertained. She finished the whole day (YAY!)

Linda’s dinner was fabulous, as usual. She made an amazing fruit salad with all the berries that I picked yesterday. And there were lots of yummy grilled things. The only disappointment of the evening was the shower. I went in; the floor was wet which meant that it had been used recently. Still, once the sun goes down, it gets cold! I quickly undressed....only to find out that someone had jammed in two quarters, so that the coin collector was no longer working. Irritated, I redressed and headed directly for bed. On the bright side, at least I’ll have a dry towel tomorrow night!